Lifetime
We’re getting down to the wire as Christmas inches ever closer, and Lifetime’s ‘It’s a Wonderful Lifetime’ series of holiday films are hitting a bit of a plateau, just offering pleasant holiday romance stories but nothing to write home about. This week’s double feature starts off with A Runaway Bride for Christmas.
When runaway bride, Emma (Nischelle Turner) seeks refuge in the only town she’s ever called home, she unexpectedly falls for her former high school crush, Mitch (Mark Ghanimé) — who’s hiding his own heartbreak. But when her ex arrives, determined to win her back, she must decide if she’s brave enough to risk her heart again before Christmas.
That’s about the simplest explanation anyone could have written about this movie, but there is a little more to it. Yes, Emma does run — apparently this is not the first time she’s bolted before a wedding ceremony — but the fact is she overheard her soon-to-be husband talking to his best man about the doubts he has going in to this marriage, wondering if they are just glorified roommates. No better time than minutes before the wedding to come to that conclusion, Ryan (Matt Wells). So Emma is justifiably hurt, but perhaps deep down even she knew he was right and they were just going through the motions. When Emma gets back to her hometown of St. James — an establishing shot at the beginning of the movie suggests this is St. Louis, though it was filmed in Ontario — the first person she runs into is Mitch, as if the Fates were sending her a message. He gives her a ride to her friend Nikki’s (Kaitlyn Leeb) house, she’s still in her wedding dress, and she and Emma reminisce about the old days … and how Emma just may have had a crush on Mitch (apparently everyone did since he was the high school sports star). But Emma wonders why the adult sports star has come back to coach basketball at the local high school. Turns out he’s not just coaching, he’s also raising a son following the death of the boy’s mother (presumably Mitch’s ex, but the oddly worded dialogue doesn’t sound quite right), and struggling with the responsibility, not knowing how to talk to the kid on anything but a coach-player level. With the team heading to a championship, they need to raise money to help with the travel expenses so Nikki, who is the school principal, enlists Emma to come up with ideas for a fundraiser … working with Mitch, who always heads up the annual event. That is like mixing oil and water at first, but Emma shows that her own life coach experience can come in handy with coaching a team, and their game begins to improve. She also begins to get closer to Mitch’s son Lucas (Luxton Handspiker), and discovers his affinity for art, something he’s been afraid to talk about with his father. It’s not that he doesn’t like basketball, but art relaxes him so Emma makes it her mission to get Lucas and Mitch to begin bonding like father and son. As she sees a different side of Mitch, she also begins to feel that maybe there is something there, but she doesn’t even know yet if she’s staying in town since she really has no home base. Naturally, things go awry when ex Ryan shows up, and it’s the first time anyone has come back for Emma, making her wonder if perhaps she did make a mistake. But she’s really gotten into a groove with Mitch and it feels real, but Mitch doesn’t feel he can compete with Ryan and when he suggests that Emma needs to make a choice — not knowing that Ryan did not come to take Emma back but to get closure and part as friends — she feels like he’s pushed her away so what does she do? Yep, packs her bags and plans to run while everyone is at the fundraiser. Will Mitch be able to stop her before she gets away again?
Lifetime
A Runaway Bride for Christmas is a pleasant holiday romance. It gets the job done, it has a collection of nicely drawn characters and a fairly realistic premise. There isn’t much in the way of eye-rolling dialogue, everything feels like how real people would talk for the most part, and the wintry scenery is lovely. The art direction team may have gone a little overboard with the Christmas trees in almost every shot just to remind us what time of year it is — I’ve never been to a school that had a fully decorated tree in the gymnasium — and the pine garland budget must have been through the roof because it’s everywhere. My high school may have had one tree in the main lobby outside of the auditorium but that was it. The over-decorated aspect aside, the whole story flows well and even the subplot of Lucas’ art fits in (Mitch mentions he got that talent from his mom), and the relationship between Mitch and Emma is completely organic. It’s all just … fine. There are no wacky situations, no crazy misunderstandings, there is just something that makes this a nice diversion but nothing really special that you’d need to revisit it after a single viewing. There’s nothing bad about the movie at all. It just exists and it’s okay. It entertains, but it lacks a spark to make it really special.
That is through no fault of the cast though. Nischelle Turner (and whoever did the end credits needs to be reprimanded for misspelling her name as ‘Nischeele’), best known for hosting Entertainment Tonight and playing herself or various reporters in other TV projects, does a great job in what seems to be her first real lead role, if IMDb is to be believed. She handles the emotion of the breakup with authenticity, she isn’t over-the-top when Nikki suggests Mitch might be an option for her, she connects well with Lucas, and she makes the whole connection with Mitch develop realistically, going from frenemies to potential lovers over the course of the movie. She really does a fantastic job so the audience can connect with her. Mark Ghanimé is also terrific as Mitch. He’s handsome, he’s charming, he works well with the students, he’s not a tyrant coach, he’s open to trying new things to help the team and his relationship with his son, and the way he looks at Turner in their scenes together clearly tells us that Mitch is really into Emma. He is also able to project Mitch’s hurt when Emma becomes uncertain as to what she wants to do so that we can empathize with him and hope that he doesn’t give up on trying to win her affections. Turner and Ghanimé work extremely well together and their chemistry jumps off the screen.
Lifetime
Kaitlyn Leeb is also very good as Nikki. She doesn’t have much to do throughout the story, but she acts almost as a big sister or even mother figure to Emma, pushing her to get involved with the fundraiser to keep her occupied but somehow knowing that some old feelings may come back the closer she is in proximity to Mitch. She gives Emma the strength she needs, and Leeb’s performance is very good at showing that to the audience. Luxton Handspiker is also excellent as Lucas. He plays the boy as just on the verge of being troublesome, on the edge of being a rebellious teen tossed into this new situation with a father he barely knows. It’s natural that he would act out, but he never goes too far (and Ghanimé does a nice job with Micth not losing his temper, working extremely well with the boy), and he makes his passion for art real, nicely exposing Lucas’ feelings that he doesn’t have to be either a basketball player or an artists, he can be happy doing both. If only real-life parent-teenager relationships could be this balanced. Maybe parents watching this could learn a few lessons. Matt Wells shows up in the smaller role of Ryan, and his honesty about not coming back for Emma is actually refreshing. His performance is totally one of obtaining closure while expressing his deep feelings for Emma, though they may not be romantic. It’s nice that they can end things as friends without pitting Ryan and Mitch against each other.
So in the end, A Runaway Bride for Christmas is worth the watch for the nicely drawn characters and all-around excellent performances, it just needed a little something more to make it really special.
A Runaway Bride for Christmas has a run time of 1 hour 27 minutes, and is rated TV-PG.